Crown seeks 15 year prison sentence in Cape Breton lobster slaying

Wooden lobster traps and colourful buoys on a wharf in Prince Edward Island, Canada. ShutterStock image

PORT HAWKESBURY, N.S. — The Crown wants a Cape Breton fisherman to serve 15 years in prison for killing a man he said enraged him after cutting his lobster traps and threatening to burn his home.

Sentencing arguments are being delivered in the case of Joseph James Landry, who was convicted by a jury in November of manslaughter.

Landry was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Phillip Boudreau, who vanished on June 1, 2013, and has never been found.

During Landry’s trial, the Crown said Boudreau’s death was the result of a sustained attack by a three-man lobster fishing crew that included Landry, one of four people charged in the case.

The jury heard that Boudreau’s boat, called the Twin Maggies, was rammed three times in Petit de Grat harbour and Landry fired four rifle shots at Boudreau, one of which hit him in the leg.

The Nova Scotia Supreme Court was told that Boudreau was then hooked with a fishing gaff and dragged out to sea before he was tied to an anchor.

Craig Landry, who is Joseph James Landry’s third cousin, was previously charged with second-degree murder but that was withdrawn. He now faces a charge of accessory after the fact.

The captain of the Twin Maggies, Dwayne Matthew Samson, also faces a second-degree murder charge. His wife Carla Samson, who owns the lobster boat, faces a charge of accessory after the fact. She is also Joseph James Landry’s daughter.

Those three accused have yet to stand trial.